On a tapestry of velvet flowers, marigolds and colored sawdust rests the traditional Day of the Dead offering, which National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography (ENCRyM) dedicates to the deceased of this house of studies, to honor their memory and their work, said the head of the institution, Gerardo Ramos Olvera when inaugurating the altar, whose decoration alludes to typical elements of Xochimilco, such as the trajineras, the lake and axolotls.
The event, organized by the federal Ministry of Culture, through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), is the result of the union of efforts and will of the ENCRyM and the National Coordination for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage (CNCPC).
“We are dedicated to preserving the material and intangible cultural heritage, so preserving our traditions is fundamental for our school,” noted its owner, referring that this activity is part of the training of the students, who participated in the assembly.
“This year, in particular, we remember the architect Rubén Rocha y Martínez (1938-2024), professor of the master’s degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Assets and Furniture; and the Administrative Support colleague, Jaime Ibáñez, who died last year,” said Ramos Olvera.
In her speech, the head of the CNCPC, María del Carmen Castro Barrera, highlighted the union between both institutions, given the interest in preserving this Mexican custom, which has even spread to other borders.
“We miss all the people who are no longer with us, but this tradition is also a celebration of death, and this perspective is a characteristic of our identity,” he stressed.
For 56 years, students and teachers of the Mural Work Restoration Seminar-Workshop have been organizing to make a custom of great relevance to the ENCRyM community a reality, the head of this subject, Martha Isabel Tapia González, said at the time.
“Preserving this tradition motivates the students to preserve this custom that commemorates the lives of all our teachers, students and loved ones in this community,” he said, detailing that 24 students and three teachers from the seminar collaborated in this edition.
In addition to the inauguration of the altar, the awards ceremony for the decorated skull, story, literary skull and best costume contests was held. The winners received a package of books and a reproduction, courtesy of the National Diffusion Coordination, reported Gerardo Ramos Olvera.
In the decorated skulls contest, first place went to the work “The Feast of the Psychopomps”, created by Octavio Moya, a student in the ninth semester of Restoration, which he created at the Easel Painting Restoration Workshop-Seminar and fuses a ancient church with a skull, creating a stage in which four angelic beings play.
The second prize went to the skull “The Registry”, made with plaster, wood, blanket, acrylic paint and epoxy plasticine, in which its author, Alex Pantoja, represents the work of the restorers, in whose work, the The registration phase is one of the most important, because it allows us to know in depth the preservation needs of each object. The third seat was occupied by the skull “Wings of eternity, messages from Mictlan”, an allegory to the myth about death, made by Jessica Marcela Cruz.
In the short story contest, the winning text was Blessing of the Godswritten by Deyanira Muñoz Vázquez; second place went to The mirror of memoriesby Isabel Rita Miller; and the third, for The curse of the San Javier Missionauthored by restaurateur Castro Barrera.
The literary skulls had two first places: The noun that arrives, a verb that is not foundby Keila Bathsheba Merodio Guerrero, and Death in the ENCRYMby Paola Rodríguez Morales; the second was for The intervention of the skinnyby Sulema Sánchez Cantú. There was no third place.
Finally, in the costume contest the winners were: the CNCPC restaurateur, David Vega, for his representation of Catúbela; the fifth semester students of the Restoration degree, Sofía Rojas and Paola Rodríguez, who personified Fiona, from the film Shrek; and Rebeca Bolaños, from the third semester, who gave life to the protagonist of the film The mask.
